Beauty From Ashes
by CobaltAvenger
Summary: In this AU the Invasion of Vale failed. The Grimm were repelled, the Fall Maiden's powers couldn't have been sustained by a cruel heart, and the Atlas robots didn't execute Order 66 because of bio-metric security measures. Sorry Roman. Four years after the failed invasion the walker of a shattered Earth now roams beneath a broken Moon. Dedicated in honor of Monty Oum.
1. Well Met By Broken Moon Light

Chap. 1: Well Met by Broken Moonlight

The night was dark, silent amongst the broken and tattered city ruins of Mountain Glenn. Remnant's moon in its 'shattered' phase providing the world below a soft white glow. A lone campfire flickered away merrily, sprawling the walls with dancing shadows while the four figures in front of it celebrated a new mile stone in their careers.

"Well girls, here we are! Our official one year anniversary as Huntresses!" exclaimed an excited blonde.

"Yeah, this year was sooo cool!" gushed their crimsonette leader.

"It was quite a ride..." spoke a raven-haired cat girl with her nose buried in one of her books as per usual.

"I can't believe you managed to rope us into a camping trip back to this... place... to clear Grimm. We should be in Atlas enjoying the party Winter was planning..." lamented the snow-topped Dust mage.

"Come on Weiss, don't tell me that you _didn't_ have fun clearing this place out with us?" the blonde said as she swept her arm around for effect.

"Yang...", Weiss sighs, while tilting her head back she explains, "No, that's not it. I wanted to spend some time with my sister too."

"Oh," crestfallen, Yang offers up, "sorry for trudging that up."

"No, it's fine; I got use to Winter and my... ' _father',_ " She hisses, "not being in touch, but that gets to you after a while."

"Weiss..." the crimson-haired leader said dejectedly and placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"Ruby. Please I just need a moment." The princ- I mean former heiress huffed.

"Sorry, Wei-", Ruby got cut off. "Guys, something is coming…" the black-haired one warned while her cat ears twitched at the oncoming noise.

Low, slow thuds and the metallic scraping could be heard underneath them. " _It sounds like and Atleseian Knight_." she whispered.

" _What's a knight doing here_?" Ruby squeaked in a hushed tone. " _Did Winter send it to check on us_?"

" _No, my sister would just call; I mean when did she ever send a drone to spy on us_?"

" _What about when we caught a flying one track us at the Vytal Festival last week_?" Yang retorted quietly.

" _Come on_! _The drone was carrying a package for me_!" Weiss almost yelled.

" _It was hovering over us for an hour after the package was delivered_."

" _How dare you accuse my sister of spying on us_!"

" _Well maybe if some_ -"; " _Guys! Please, the thing downstairs might hear you_." Ruby pleaded while clapping a hand over her sister's mouth.

Huffing in agreement Weiss said a small " _Okay,"_ and Yang managed an " _Mmhmm._ "

" _So anyone think of an idea of what to do?_ " the cat girl asked is an exasperated tone.

" _Blake, you're our local ninja and can see in the dark so you can run recon with Yang watching your back_." Ruby formulated while releasing her sister.

" _Got it."_ Yang agreed while Blake simply nodded.

* * *

Clanking beneath the girls, about two stories down, was a seven-foot tall suit of dark blue power armor. With its helmet lamp on, the suit scanned room to room for salvage. "Hmm," the armor hummed to itself, wondering why the buildings had next to no content inside them. No desks, lockers, or anything at all to scavenge about in, just bits of trash were all that was found. Finding nothing of value, it clomped to the staircase to try the next floor.

"Huh?" Its attention snapped to something black that moved while it was heading onto the third floor. The armor nudged forward while drawing its assault rifle to the ready. As the suit approached it kept its head on a swivel checking for other threats. Drawing near the door it saw the figure scurry into the armor put its back to the wall and peaked into the frame.

* * *

Blake spied a dark blue figure coming up the stairs; eyes widening in revelation she ducks into a doorway leading to a hallway Yang was waiting in. Hearing a subtle scuffling in front of her in the blackness Yang calls out " _Blake?"_

 _"Yeah, it's me."_ She replied while an ear twitched.

" _What happened?"_ Yang whispered while crossing her arms.

 _"I got a look and it's not a Knight. The design and color were all wrong; it must be a custom unit."_

 _"So any plans besides me punching its limbs off to capture it?"_ Yang said with a smirk for Blake to see.

 _"Yang… I don't-"_ Blake got cut off by a static-lased voice down the hallway. "Hey, if anyone is there I mean you no harm, and if you're Raiders we don't have to fight to the death like you guys usually do."

"Hold it, what's a 'Raider'?" Yang asked out loud from behind the corner.

"Wait, you never heard of Raiders before?" The armor questioned her.

" _Yang what are you doing?_ " Blake hissed.

" _Pressing for information; it's obviously smart like Penny or a remote unit._ " The blonde reasoned, "Yeah, I never have. Enlighten me." then quipped.

"Okay, it's clear that you're being sarcastic so I have a proposition." The armor offered.

" _Smarter than I thought;_ what is it then?" Yang said dryly.

" _Yang._ " Blake whispered.

" _I got this Blake."_

"Okay, we both step forward slowly with no weapons in hand and we can talk." it explained.

"How could I tell if you're unarmed while being blinded by that light?" retorting the idea.

"I'm not underhanded like that. See?" It shot back while turning off its spotlight, putting away its assault rifle, and pulling out a lantern for a softer light source.

"Okay..." Yang responded while peeking out from behind the corner.

The hulking suit of metal trudged forward and placed the lantern to the right and stood there with its arms stretched to show empty hands, "See?"

"That's pretty straight forward," Yang thought, "Alright I'm coming out too- Urgh."

Pulling at Yang's shoulder, Blake pleaded " _Yang! Are you crazy? We don't know anything about this thing."_

" _Blake, I got a good gut feeling here, and has my gut ever been-" "_ Hey, are you okay?" The suit questioned before she could finish.

" _Yes, like wh-_ " the cat girl tried to deadpan but got cut off by Yang clapping her hand over Blake's mouth.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yang replied and stepped towards the armor arms raised and shotgun gauntlets collapsed into their bracelet forms.

* * *

The armor saw the buxom pale-skinned blonde strut forward with her arms raised and a soft smirk. Noting her dark brown leather duster and knee-length boots , yellow tank top, orange scarf, black skinny-jeans and half-finger gloves, lastly with gold bracelets, her gear and personal hygiene were waaay too good for a filthy Raider. Additionally her clean, bright, and shaggy butt-length blonde hair was a dead giveaway. "Alright, you passed the test. Congratulations you obviously ain't a Raider." The armored figure quipped. With a puzzled look on her face, the blonde asked, "What do you mean? What are Raiders, anyway?"

"Wait, you've never encountered or even heard of Raiders before?" The suit questioned.

She replied with a straight face, "Nope." Popping the 'p'.

"They're gangs of chem-pushers and slavers who try to kill, rape, and pillage whatever they come across; and have **_terrible_** hygiene."

"Uh, so I'm literally too clean to be one and what are you? A law 'bot?" The woman asked while crossing her arms and shooting an incredulous look.

"No. I'm not a robot or a, uhh, police officer?" The suit half-asked while scratching its helmet.

"Wait you're a person in that tin can?"

"Yeah, one sec. My name's Jeremiah." The man said while removing his helmet revealing a rosy rounded face with short black hair and a stubble beard.

"Ok, that's one question solved but are from outside the Kingdoms since you aren't sure of what police are? Oh and my name's Yang." she said while stepping forward to get a closer look at his face.

The armored man stepped back a bit due to her approach and responded, "Ehh, what kingdoms are you talking about?"

Sighing she responded, "Really? You have a suit of robotic armor but don't know basic geography?"

"No, I do. This area is unfamiliar to me though; there's no salvage to find here, and the air is... cleaner than I'm used to." Jeremiah stated.

Putting her hands on her hips, Yang cocked her eyebrow asking, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from the Rad Handle or the Panama Wasteland; speaking of which, I had to connect to a network called the 'Atleseian CCT' and the map info called this place Mt. Glenn." he said.

"Yeah, Mt. Glenn is this place but I never heard of any wastelands outside of Vacuo and the Rad Handle wasn't covered in any of my geography classes," She stroked her chin while thinking. "Hey Blake! This guy's okay but lost, come on out," she called.

"I can't believe you actually went through with this," a cat-like and equally pale woman, presumably Blake, said as she strolled up and shaking her head. Her gear was too clean, and fancy, to be a raider as well; the white-chested yet black mini-dress with purple ribbons, actual black-to-purple gradient leggings, two white studded belts, short high-heeled boots, and a semi-translucent sleeve on her left arm seemed... a bit much.

" ** _And_** my gut was right. Again," Yang rubbed in as she crossed her arms in triumph. Blake face-palmed.

Chuckling, Jeremiah said, "Nice to meet you, Blake."

"Likewise, but are you from Vacuo as my partner surmised?" she asked while training her notably reflective yellow eyes on him.

"No, I'm from America and I know that this may be creepy but I've never seen eyes like yours Blake." he stated with obvious curiosity on his face.

"What?" Blake asked dumbfounded, while Yang started to laugh and said something about how that was sudden change in subject.

"That's rich, and you've never seen the shattered moon either huh?" Yang laughed out.

"Wait... the moon got blown-up?" Jeremiah asked while sharing in Blake's confusion. This last question renewed Yang's laughter and nearly caused her to keel over. Blake simply doubled down on her face-palm from earlier.


	2. To Thine Own Home Be True

Chapter 2: To Thine Own Home Be True

While the campfire kept crackling away, Ruby and Weiss heard Yang's laughter howl below. With a grimace the former heiress's thoughts ran wild as to what made the occasionally insufferable blonde laugh so loudly at a time like this. Could have Winter sent another drone? Ruby sat there with her scythe, muscles relaxing from hearing her sister's laughter.

"I think it's safe. Wanna check out what happened?" Ruby asked with her usual smile while putting away her scythe.

"Uhh... Sure," she gave halfheartedly. Sure," she gave halfheartedly. Sure," she gave halfheartedly.

Noticing that something was off, Ruby pressed Weiss by asking, "Are you still afraid that Winter can't trust you?"

"No, just that she worries too much."

"Pfft, I know how you feel. Yang is still over-protective of her 'dear baby sister'," Ruby responded while mocking Yang's voice during the quotation.

"Come on intrepid leader, let's see what your over-protective sister found," Weiss said after being infected by her partner's cheer for the ump-teenth time in her life. Ruby then mock saluted back.

* * *

Upon starting to descend the dark stairwell with a flash light, Ruby and Weiss heard Yang's laughter finally die down. Ruby chuckled to herself about her sister, who seems to never really change. Also taking that cue Ruby called her sister over her scroll.

"Hey Yang, what floor are you on?"

"I'm on the third floor, and you will not believe what we found," Yang teased over the device.

"Ooh, is it a new AK-VT-101 model that was sent to spy on us?" Ruby joked to get a rise from Weiss.

"Hey!" Weiss squeaked from the background.

"Nope; you'll just have to find out. Are you headed our way Sis?" She asked.

"Yeah, see you in a few."

"Bye, Rubes."

"Ruby, why...?" Weiss asked while rubbing her temples.

Ruby only response was a small, "sorry..."

* * *

Continuing on silently the rest of the way, Weiss and Ruby saw their teammates further down the hall with a lantern of unknown origin on the ground. Weiss and Ruby saw their teammates further down the hall with a lantern of unknown origin on the ground. Weiss and Ruby saw their teammates further down the hall with a lantern of unknown origin on the ground.

"Hey guys, what did you find?" Ruby asked as the pair approached.

"Well Ruby... It's kinda awesome," Yang responded vaguely.

"Please tell us what it is, Yang," Weiss said passive-aggressively while crossing her arms.

"Whoa, slow down, Ice Queen," Yang retorted with a smirk.

"We found someone," Blake put bluntly.

"Thank you, Blake," Weiss responded and flashed a smirk of her own.

"So, where are they?" Ruby asked with annoyance.

"Well, that's my cue," said a static-laced voice from an adjacent doorway.

* * *

As he pounded into the hall, Jeremiah heard Yang call him a 'space marine' as per her plan for Ruby. Also from around the door frame two more women came into view: Ruby, looking just like the picture on Yang's 'scroll', wearing a black and red trimmed short-sleeved shirt, corset, knee-length split skirt, and combat boots along with a red cloak, and black half-finger gloves, knee-length shorts, and ammo belt. (A/N: Her costume is like Tifa Lockhart's from _FF VII: Advent Children_ or _Kingdom Hearts 2_.) She bounced up and down with excitement; her black root-to-crimson tipped bob cut bobbed along with her. Weiss meanwhile double face-palmed with her white-gloved hands at Ruby's reaction. The 'heiress', as she was described, had a light blue-chested tuxedo-like jacket with white sleeves and gold trim, white slacks, and lighter blue undershirt with matching low-heeled boots. Her back-length and right-sided snowy ponytail swayed as she shook her head.

"Wow, that's an awesome looking robot! Canyoutalk? Ifso,whatmodelareyou? Whomanufacturedyou?" Her machine gun mouth blurted out as she zipped around him leaving rose petals in her wake.

"Slow down there. I'm human," Jeremiah responded while removing his helmet, trying to track the red blur, and wondered how she could pop around him like that without VATS.

Ruby stopped right in front of him and asked with a curious expression on her face, "So that's actually a suit of genuine power armor? Dang, no wonder Yang called you a space marine."

"There's more to that actually," Yang chirped in and put up her crossed her arms for emphasis.

Weiss and Ruby said "Huh?" in unison.

"Jeremiah is from a different planet," Blake answered, dropping the proverbial mini-nuke.

"For Dust's sake... You can't expect us to believe something so absurd," Weiss huffed while shooting an incredulous look.

"Maybe if we just hear him out..." Ruby offered.

"We already heard him and he spoke perfect Valish, Ruby."

"Uh, don't I have some say in this?" the man asked.

Completely ignoring him, Yang piped, "If he's not from Remnant then he wouldn't have an aura."

At this Jeremiah cocked an eyebrow and Weiss grabbed her scroll while sighing. "People from Remnant need to have their aura unlocked before it appears remember?"

"Oh, yeah..." Yang said with a knowing smirk.

"Get out of that armor. I'm going to scan you for your aura and I don't want any interference," Weiss explained while not picking up on Yang's expression.

"Hold on; what's 'aura'?"

Weiss shot an annoyed look at Jeremiah and filled him in, "Aura is a projection of the soul, forming an energy shield that protects us and grants us unique powers."

"Well, I definitely don't have one of those. Is it necessary to scan me then?"

"Will you _co-operate_ with me?! I'm a Huntress; I'm _**not**_ going to hurt you!" Weiss semi-shouted due to her thin-patience. Yang tried, and kinda failed, not to bust a gut at the mage's expense, Ruby winced, and Blake reacquainted her hand to her face once again.

Taken aback by the display Jeremiah folded and responded with, "Okay, I'm sorry for being difficult." He exited his power armor; as he exited the back of the suit, Jeremiah was revealed to be wearing a set of clean blue camouflage naval fatigues and black combat boots.

Weiss regained her sensibilities and sighed, "It's not you. I let my temper get the better of me. Though a certain pair of _sisters_ make that pretty easy sometimes..." Yang tried to pull off her best innocent look while Ruby looked down at her feet and muttered something about her already apologizing. Blake, meanwhile, rolled her eyes and gave an amused smile.

"I can relate. My older brother still messes with me and we're both in our twenties," he told her with a sympathetic smile.

"Ready for your scan?"

"Yep," with that said, Weiss held up her scroll and a blue ray of light ran up Jeremiah's body once. The screen on the device relayed that no aura was detected. "Turns out that Yang was right," Weiss said with mild surprise, "but why are you this far away from any settlements? Grimm attack humanity _and_ our creations. That armor will only slow you down and make you an easier target."

"I was given a brief rundown about this world from Blake and Yang, but like I told them: my suit can't be destroyed," he replied while casting a glance at his armor. That piqued Ruby's interest.

"Ooo, what type of material is it made from?" Ruby asked with a wide smile and stepped towards him.

"We are moving from the subject at hand: he has no aura and he is in known Grimm territory," Weiss tried to correct them.

"That's simple Weiss. We'll just unlock it," Ruby answered and placed her left hand on Jeremiah's chest.

"Uhh, wha-"

"Hold still," Ruby explained, "We need to concentrate, so close your eyes."

"Okay..."

Once both of their eye were closed, a crimson glow enveloped the two and Ruby began to recite, "Our souls are a light in the night. A Beacon of Hope for those facing the Dark. Ignite, you sleeping soul and burn like the day. Awaken o' warrior and join the ranks of the defenders." After Ruby was done, the glow died down to only surround Ruby.

She stepped back from Jeremiah as her aura finished flaring and with a look of pure confusion on her face. Ruby stared at her palms and exclaimed, "the unlocking process didn't work?!" Her team mates had varied reactions to the failed aura-unlocking; Weiss looked just as clueless as Ruby, Blake stood there pondering this, and Yang was shocked.

"Does this mean that he has no soul?" Blake was the first to speak up.

"Hold on, what do you mean?" Jeremiah asked while wondering why the girls looked like they saw a ghost.

The other girls were still processing the situation as Blake continued, "the only creatures to lack a soul, and by extension aura, are Grimm."

"I can see your logic, but people cannot live without a soul. Also, I'm not from this planet so there was no guarantee that it would have worked anyway," he reasoned back as the other girls got over the initial shock.

Twitching her cat ears in thought Blake asked, "How come you weren't shocked as much as my teammates about being on Remnant?"

Jeremiah just shrugged, "I've had my fair share of encountering the strange, and what I believe narrows what I consider to be impossible."


	3. Memories Of Neverland

Chapter 3: Memories of Neverland

 _ **(A/N): This note is for you guys who've been with this story for a little while and have read the most recent chapters. Due to creative differences and a lack of agreement, I and my co-writer have had a falling out. The Red Seraph will no longer be writing any part of this story. I'd like to apologize for the massive let down. Various perspectives, chapters and characters will be scrapped, including MDNT and Pileas. And, perhaps most disappointing of all, Cinder and Emerald will be going through a whole rewrite. I'm sorry Panzer. I hope y'all will stick with me through the following rewritten chapters.**_

The huntresses (minus Blake) recovered from their shock and brought the lad to the team's campsite to make him feel welcome. The campfire had died down a bit but was still crackling away merrily; this time two new shadows joined the original four sprawling the walls of the ruined room. The conversation was on the bloody history of a distant planet called Earth and how the people condemned themselves to a nuclear holocaust almost two centuries prior. The four huntress' attention held true, especially at the life of the Wastelander before them.

"... I got my T-51 armor from a friend who came from the old Washington DC area," Jeremiah explained to Ruby as he cast a glance to the armor in question, "I still don't know how the thing was made that tough though."

"Oooo, did your friend tell you how they got it?" Ruby inquired further.

"She said that she got it from an old prewar cache after helping a group called the Outcasts."

"What's your friend like?" Yang chimed in.

"Seraphine, she's like a sister to me and can easily kneecap a deathclaw with her baseball bat," he explained with a sad smile.`

"There's baseball on your planet as well?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's odd how closely our planets come in terms of culture and language."

"I agree. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you can speak Valish." Weiss added in while holding her chin in a thinking pose.

"Jeremiah," Blake called to get his attention, "do you mind explaining what the Outcasts and deathclaws are?"

"From what Seraphine told me, the Outcasts are a group of technology hoarding power armor users that splintered from her old faction, hence their name. Deathclaws are simply nine-foot tall bipedal lizards."

"Do you have a picture of them?" Ruby asked with an excited grin.

"Yeah, one sec," he said and fumbled around looking for his handheld Pip-boy 3500, (the 3500 model is a cosmetic change to the Pip-boy readius mod from the Fallout: NV nexus.). After he got it out a light projected from the back of the device onto the adjacent wall and displayed a picture of an aforementioned deathclaw from his perspective in the armor.

"Wow, such big, much spike...," Ruby muttered in awe.

"Are those things any good in a fight?" Yang asked and pumped her gauntlet for emphasis.

"In a melee fight they are pretty tough, but crippling their legs makes it like shooting fish in a barrel."

"Those almost look like the dragons from the old books," Blake said with an amused grin.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "fighting dragons while in armor _and_ protecting people... Sis?"

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin' Ruby?" Yang asked with a semi-evil grin, and Ruby nodded, giggling.

"Uhh, what are you two getting at?" Jeremiah asked in confusion.

"You're a knight in not-shining blue armor," Ruby and Yang sang in unison and caused Jeremiah to snort in amusement.

"This isn't the first time I've been called that," Jeremiah chuckled, shaking his head.

The Heiress cleared her throat loudly, "Back to the point, what created the deathclaws?" she asked while leaning in for a closer look at the slide show of photos, "none of Remnant's normal wildlife look like that. Not even the Grimm we know of do."

"There are plenty of theories; some say they're genetic experiments and others claim that deathclaw are demons who came from the pits of hell after the bombs fell," Jeremiah explained while deep in thought, "personally, I tend towards the 'genetic experiment' theory since they act like regular predators."

"That is something our worlds share as well," Blake replied in a melancholic tone, "the Grimm you have been hearing of are a complete mystery to us, too. They don't eat, drink, sleep or even mate; they just _are_. Their black hides and bone plating resemble the stuff of nightmares. Many religions on Remnant brand them as demons, and for good reason."

"Thanks for reminding me Blake; you said before that your beliefs 'narrow' what you think is impossible. What do you believe in?" Yang asked.

"Uhh, way to put me on the spot Yang," Jeremiah joked as she winked at this, "joking aside, I believe in an Old World religion called Christianity."

"What are its beliefs?" Weiss asked.

"In an extremely short summary; John chapter 3 verse 16: 'God loved the world and gave His only Son, so whoever believes in Him will not perish but live forever.'"

"That sounds pretty close to one of my dad's favorite verses from the Script," Ruby commented with a bewildered face.

"What's the Script?" the Wastelander asked, equally bewildered.

"It's the holy book of The Way," Ruby clarified, "it runs in the family."

From there the conversation continued with various subjects about both Earth and Remnant. They talked all about Remnant's mysterious mineral called 'Dust' that had been used from ancient times to combat Grimm and how all modern technology relied upon it, and Jeremiah explained the greed of prewar America and China's ultimately futile conflict in Earth's resource wars, they talked late into the night; as the informal study group discussed each respective world, delving into the personal stories of the Huntresses and the Wastelander any further fell by the wayside and became a story for another day.

* * *

Remnant's sun began to rise and the shattered moon still peeked from the horizon. The once roaring campfire burned down to smoldering embers and around the fire four figures laid in sleeping bags with their respective backpacks nearby. At dawn's first light three of the Huntresses and the Wastelander awoke after taking shifts on watch. Ruby was already awake from her shift and decided to start some coffee to help the others wake up faster.

While the coffee brewed on the cooker, Ruby greeted everyone is a singsong voice, "Good morning, team!"

"Morning, Rubes," her sister yawned back while stretching.

"Good morning," Weiss replied from her beauty keeping session with a compact mirror.

"Mmhh," the catgirl grunted with lead eyelids and slightly slouched.

"Good morning, guys," Jeremiah said as he rubbed an eye and looked through his Pipboy for something to read.

"I'm brewing coffee and what do you want to eat before we call for extraction?" Ruby asked with a smile, holding up a frying pan and spatula.

"I… just need... coffee…," the brunette muttered and flopped back down on her sleeping bag.

"I'll take some pancakes," Yang answered while getting some Joe for her and Blake, who was already back asleep.

"I would like some as well, but **please** go light on the chocolate chips this time.", the heiress said.

At that moment a violent burst of green light came from Jeremiah's direction and caught the girls (minus Blake) off guard. When the light subsided they saw him holding a somewhat tattered book in his hands.

"What in the sweet name of Monty Oum was that?!" Yang exclaimed while covering her violet eyes and caused Blake to jolt awake.

"Uhh! Who? What? Tuna?" Blake questioned in a half-awake state.

"My pretty blue eyes!" Weiss cried dramatically, throwing an arm over her face and collapsing theatrically.

"I should have shown you guys last night," Jeremiah began to explain,"my Pipboy can digitize matter and materialize it from storage."

"Is there a way to turn off the flash?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her silver peepers.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I set it up to act like that to blind enemies as I switch weapons or use stimpaks."

"What happened?" the cat girl asked, since she just became more coherent, as her ears twitched.

" _Xiao~Long~_ story short: there was a bright flash due to Jeremiah's Pipboy and nearly blinded the rest of the team," the bubbly blonde explained and caused her team mates to groan at the pun on her last name.

"Uhh, Blake?" Jeremiah called with a curious air.

"If it's my cat ears: yes, they are real, my people are called Faunus and we have more varied traits that just from cats, and sorry for not telling you this sooner," Blake semi-ranted with a little annoyance evident in her voice.

"Uhh, thanks? That... did kinda answer what I was gonna ask," Jeremiah rubbed his neck in awkwardness.

"Sorry, Blake has a hard time in the mornings," Weiss apologized for her teammate.

"Here Blake, I got your coffee," Yang said with two coffee mugs in her hands and offered Blake one.

"Thank you," Blake cooed.

"Extra strong espresso with heavy creamer, just how you like it," Yang recited while Blake grabbed the offered drink and gulped it down, "So with that caffeine in you, do you want some pancakes to go with it?"

"Yes, Ruby, also be sure to use bacon grease to cook mine with," Blake said with a chipper tone.

"Hey, what were you getting out from your device, and what do you want to eat?" Ruby called out to the Wastelander as she began to cook the oft requested pancakes. Starting on the other cooker she put the frying pan down and poured in some batter.

"It's the Bible," Jeremiah called up from his reading, "and I'd like some cheese grits, if y'all have any, or pancakes."

"Ahh, and what are 'cheese grits'?" the crimson-caped cook asked and almost burned her current pancake in bewilderment.

Looking up from his book the Wastelander replied, "It's a breakfast item made from ground up corn with melted cheese in it."

"Sorry, we don't have anything like that with us right now, but how many pancakes would you like?" The cooking leader asked as she finished making her team's breakfast, "Alright, three 'cakes with butter and bacon for Yang, two light chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup and sunny-side up eggs for Weiss, and three bacon flavored ones with fish sticks for Blake."

"I'll take three with bacon and butter," Jeremiah replied to the cook and popped the bible back into his Pipboy after finishing a chapter.

"Thanks for the food Sis!" Yang gushed with glee as she, the snowy mage, and neko sat down on their own bags to eat.

Taking in the aroma of her meal, Blake simply sported a wide smile and sang, "Arigatogozaimashita~~," like the awkward female lead in Blake's favorite teen romance novel series, _Ninjas of Love,_ authored by Stephanie Mire. Everyone looked at Blake with various expressions; Yang lightly chuckled in amusement, Weiss blushed and looked away as she loved the books as well, Ruby only shot a grin at how cute she was, and Jeremiah just looked on and gave a "Huh."

"Sorry, I think I'm still a little sleepy?" Blake offered with shaky resolve.

"Seems... legit," the blonde commented. Everyone else kept silent and Ruby went back to cooking.

"Hey Ruby, would you like for me to cook you something?" Jeremiah offered as the others ate.

"Nah, I already ate. Thanks though." She replied and continued with the bacon next. Upon finishing the bacon she handed the next plate of food to the new arrival. "I'm going to call for extraction. I better tell Charles that we have a large surprise for him…." After that Ruby pulled out her scroll and tapped the screen to bring up Charles' contact information.

"Hey, Chuck, we're done clearing out Mt. Glenn," the leader called over the device.

"Great to hear! I'll be there to pick ya up ASAP," Charles replied.

"We found someone though; he's from outside the kingdoms."

"Okay, so a plus one. That's fine, but is there a catch?" Chuck chuckled back.

"Yeah… about that," Ruby deflated a bit, "there's a large payload that came with him."

"Pfft, Ruby, I know that you like to crack jokes like Yang, but you need to work on your delivery."

"No. Really, look." Ruby said, as she turned her scroll to the blue T-51 armor in the corner.

"Rubes, thanks for the concern but Bessie can handle about a dozen atlesian knight. She can handle one," Chuck gave her a reassuring nod.

Ruby smiled, "Okay, we'll grab our stuff and meet you at the forum." With that she closed her scroll and turned back to her teammates and Jeremiah. "Alright, guys, we need to pack up and get moving. Charles should be at the RP soon."

The four girls and their new friend gathered up their belongings, geared up, and marched north to the center of the city where a spacious forum awaited them. Glenn's Heart they'd called it when the city had been inhabited by more than monsters. The Heart had bustled once, been a center of the city's community just a few decades prior; now it was a ruin, and an oddly familiar sight to Jeremiah.

The armor sighed, "Dang... so war really never changes," as he eyed the crumbling buildings and dilapidated stores.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

Jeremiah stopped and gestured to the half-collapsed dance hall to his right, "It's just that with Grimm or Nuclear Armageddon the results are the same."

A look of understanding crossed over Yang's face, "Are things really _this_ bad where you come from?"

Jeremiah nodded, starting to trudge again, "Kinda. Most of the big cities were reduced to radioactive ash and slag. We're rebuilding though but at least you guys start off with plumbing," he gestured to the sputtering fountain in the center of the forum, the only thing that hadn't been ruined in the past years, as Bessie's trademark roar buried all other sound.


End file.
